Correlating the Performance of a Fire-Retardant Coating across Different Scales of Testing.

Material-scale tests involving milligrams of samples are used to optimize fire-retardant coating formulations, but actual applications of these coatings require them to be assessed with structural-scale fire tests. This significant difference in the scale of testing (milligrams to kilograms of sample) raises many questions on the relations between the inherent flammability and thermal characteristics of the coating materials and their "performance" at the structural scale. Moreover, the expected "performance" requirements and the definition of "performance" varies at different scales.

Development and Evaluation of a Water-Based Flame Retardant Spray Coating for Cotton Fabrics.

In this Research Article, we report on the development of water-based flame retardant coating based on phospho-nitrogen combination for cotton fabrics. A one-step spray-on process was employed to coat the fabrics by taking advantage of the spontaneous reaction between para-phenylenediamine (PDA) and tetrakis(hydroxymethyl)phosphonium chloride (THPC) resulting in an instantaneous precipitation of poly[1,4-diaminophenylene-tris(dimethyl hydroxymethyl)phosphine] (PApP) on the fabric surface. The effectiveness of PApP in improving the flame retardant properties like ignition resistance and lateral flame spread were evaluated in accordance with ASTM D6413 and BS EN ISO 15025 flammability tests.

Influence of Polymer-Clay Interfacial Interactions on the Ignition Time of Polymer/Clay Nanocomposites.

Metal ions present on smectite clay (montmorillonite) platelets have preferential reactivity towards peroxy/alkoxy groups during polyamide 6 (PA6) thermal decomposition. This changes the decomposition pathway and negatively affects the ignition response of PA6. To restrict these interfacial interactions, high-temperature-resistant polymers such as polyetherimide (PEI) and polyimide (PI) were used to coat clay layers.